Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and Amazon Prime.

or

Technology doesn't flow smoothly; it's the big surprises that matter, and Yale computer expert David Gelernter sees one such giant leap right on the horizon. Today's small scale software programs are about to be joined by vast public software works that will revolutionize computing and transform society as a whole. One such vast program is the "Mirror World." Imagine looking at your computer screen and seeing reality--an image of your city, for instance, complete with moving traffic patterns, or a picture that sketches the state of an entire far-flung corporation at this second. These representations are called Mirror Worlds, and according to Gelernter they will soon be available to everyone. Mirror Worlds are high-tech voodoo dolls: by interacting with the images, you interact with reality. Indeed, Mirror Worlds will revolutionize the use of computers, transforming them from (mere) handy tools to crystal balls which will allow us to see the world more vividly and see into it more deeply. Reality will be replaced gradually, piece-by-piece, by a software imitation; we will live inside the imitation; and the surprising thing is--this will be a great humanistic advance. We gain control over our world, plus a huge new measure of insight and vision. In this fascinating book--part speculation, part explanation--Gelernter takes us on a tour of the computer technology of the near future. Mirror Worlds, he contends, will allow us to explore the world in unprecedented depth and detail without ever changing out of our pajamas. A hospital administrator might wander through an entire medical complex via a desktop computer. Any citizen might explore the performance of the local schools, chat electronically with teachers and other Mirror World visitors, plant software agents to report back on interesting topics; decide to run for the local school board, hire a campaign manager, and conduct the better part of the campaign itself--all by interacting with the Mirror World. Gelernter doesn't just speculate about how this amazing new software will be used--he shows us how it will be made, explaining carefully and in detail how to build a Mirror World using technology already available. We learn about "disembodied machines," "trellises," "ensembles," and other computer components which sound obscure, but which Gelernter explains using familiar metaphors and terms. (He tells us that a Mirror World is a microcosm just like a Japanese garden or a Gothic cathedral, and that a computer program is translated by the computer in the same way a symphony is translated by a violinist into music.) Mirror Worlds offers a lucid and humanistic account of the coming software revolution, told by a computer scientist at the cutting edge of his field.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

With evangelical fervor, Gelernter's book-length essay paints a future where software technology, now isolating people, brings them into impersonal proximity through "mirror worlds." These computer models of reality let users descend to greater depths of detail at will, meet other explorers, and generally get the "big picture" of what's going on. However, Gelernter's own appraisal of the value of computers seems inconsistent and extreme: he claims they are valuable just sitting unused on the coffee table but then insists that the uninitiated will be forced to "sink or swim" (i.e., learn to use computers) in the information sea computers create. His casual style gives the book the feel of a lecture transcript, and his metaphors (e.g., "jettisoned floating landscapes in tuple space") demand considerable hardware and software knowledge to link them with reality. For collections emphasizing computer science.- Doug Kranch, Ambassador Coll. Lib., Big Sandy, Tex.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Very interesting and very predictive of much of what has come to pass. Sketches out a broad framework of cyber-architecture without getting stuck in low-level implementation details. I read it because I am designing a tool to operate in today's cloud ecosystem, and this framework is chock full of guiding principles.

Mirror WorldsGelertner3 starsThe book, first published in 1991 by Oxford University Press,must be read in the context of its day to be fully appreciated.At that time, in the pre-web world, there was a great deal ofdiscussion devoted to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and theFifth Generation Project driven by the Japanese. If Gelertnerhad limited his offering to only those topics this book couldbe left in the pile of such books from that era without loss.Luckily, Gelertner gave us more.While there is much of the book relegated to the AI ideas ofthat time, there are also insightful and practical observationsthat have a more lasting appeal. For example, Gelertner delvesinto the question "What is a program? What does 'software' mean?"Such questions are explored in some detail and other observationsare made in the discussions. "Managing complexity must beyour goal... we can call it the pursuit of 'topsite'. Topsite--the understanding of the big picture--is the essential goal ofevery software builder. It's also the most precious intellectualcommodity known to man."We've all heard talk about someone who "sees the big picture."That, according to Gelertner, is "topsight": having perspective,clarity, and a sense of proportion. Why is this important? Ifwe want to have machines (programs) help us see and understandour world (in a "Mirror" of our world), we'll need to teachthese machines how to make sense of the information. Minimally,they'll need to be able to sift through the volumes of dataand find that data which is "interesting." The very best programswill be able to find those interesting things and presentthem in a compelling way. All of this demands "topsight."To drive this ideal, Gelertner and his colleagues created"Linda" which serves as the basis for themachinery of such a Mirror World system. The idea is simple:create a Space where information (called a Tuple)can be put, taken, or simply read or examined. Many programsput information in the space. Other programs notice itemsin the Space, take them, and perform some processing, andput a different item back into the space in its stead.This part of the book, the very practical nuts-and-boltspart, is alive and well today and in active use. WhileGelertner's system Linda may not have achieved widespreadacceptance, the same idea in another form is quietlythriving: JavaSpaces. The same notions described byGelertner to support his Mirror World now serves as theheart of many commercial applications.Gelertner has a lot to say. Yes, some of it now appearsdated and some of the ideas he touts have beendiscredited. But, nobody said predicting the future waseasy business!My recommendation is thus: forgive Gelertner the detours hetakes (that we all took) and find within the book all thosethings which have inspired--and will continue to inspire.There are ample enough thoughts within those pages to makethe time invested in a careful reading well worthwhile.

"Mirror Worlds" sketches, on a broad canvas, what we will be able to do with (virtually) infinite bandwidth and storage capacity. Gelernter's book provides key concepts and mental models for envisioning technological futures. We're never quite prepared for the future when it arrives. Exponential technology curves yield thousand-fold gains in capacity and speed, but humans can't imagine thousand-fold improvements. One solution: remove the limits completely. For example, assume that infinite bandwidth and data storage capacity are available to everyone for free. What would this enable us to do? Explore the new applications -- the new ways of organizing work, communication, commerce, thought, and art -- that would become possible. Then work back from that vision of the future, to find the paths that will take us in that direction. Example 1: Put video cameras everywhere, and record every moment. -- Remember, infinite and free storage and bandwidth! Why throw anything away? -- Use that real-time data to build a virtual model of your city - a mirror world. Then have your software agents roam through all those data/video streams and flag - or respond to - events that might impact your neighborhood or your decisions. The value is in the filtering! Example 2: Any human with a PC and a net connection can become a television broadcaster. The TV broadcasting infrastructure becomes obsolete, just as the telephone companies' infrastructure does in the Stupid Network vision With millions of producers creating and broadcasting content streams into infospace -- and all prior broadcasts stored for viewing as well -- a highly selective "TV Guide" will be a key to survival in the post-literate society. Higly recommended reading for visionaries, product planners and science fiction writers. END

David Gelernter's visionary, although dated, book, "Mirror Worlds: or the Day Software Puts the Universe in a Shoebox...How It Will Happen and What It Will Mean," is a must for science fiction fans as well as product interaction designers. Dr. Gelernter thinks big and comes up with a futuristic model of computers embedded in the very fabric of society. The book was written in 1993, and he has published a few books since then, but for scope of technological futurisms, this one is my favorite.

Usually, I value the writing of scientists for the clarity, reason and sometimes poetry found. But this is just awful. It almost seems like one of those self-help books with BIG letters and about two paragraphs per page.The idea is that we can create "mirror worlds", identical but virtual representations of any entity - social, geographical, testable - that we desire. At first this sounds exciting but as he explained it, I slowly got the idea that it was nothing more than (pardon the pun) "smoke and mirrors". I just could not understand the ultimate use of such a structure except perhaps for traffic control or future predictions of population trends or growth. Nice try but no cigar.